MUSIC

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Season 29 of The Voice ended on a historic note.

During the April 14 finale, the competition was reduced to four rising stars: Alexia Jayy from Adam Levine's team, Liv Ciara and Mikenley Brown from Kelly Clarkson's team, and Lucas West from John Legend's team.

But, in the end, Alexia was crowned the Battle of Champions season winner, bringing in a coaching panel that had all previously won.

Not only is Adam's fourth win in the competition—tying him with Kelly for second-most wins by a judge, a title Blake Shelton currently holds—but it is also the first time a Black woman has been crowned the winner in the show's 15-year run.

Alexia has been a frontrunner in the season since she performed Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman" in her audition, which turned the chairs of all three judges. Adam said to the 31-year-old, "You have one of the best voices I've ever heard on this show, ever."

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After nearly three years away from the BRIT Awards stage, Harry Styles made a triumphant return on Saturday night with the first live performance of his new single Aperture. The performance marked the official start of his latest musical chapter, the Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally era, and set the tone for an evening celebrating the best in British music.

The moment was introduced with a comedic prelude featuring BRIT Awards host Jack Whitehall. The skit opened in a barbershop, where Whitehall scrolled through his phone and reacted to news that Styles would be taking a break from music in 2023. What followed was a playful montage of Whitehall imagining chance encounters with the singer. In one scene he believed he spotted Styles while jogging. In another he embraced Styles wax figure at Madame Tussauds. The lighthearted sequence ended with Whitehall finally arriving at the ceremony just in time for the highly anticipated performance.

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Rockstar Games has once again found itself dealing with hackers, after a group claimed to have accessed company data and issued a ransom demand. The incident, reported over the weekend, marks the second significant breach linked to the studio in recent years.

According to posShinyHunters says it infiltrated systems connected to a third-party cloud service provider. The hackers allege they obtained internal files and warned the company to respond by a set deadline or risk having the material released publicly.

Despite the claims, Rockstar has sought to minimise concern the breach. In a short statement, the company said only a "limited amount of non-material information" had been accessed and insisted there was no impact on operations or players. The studio has not indicated whether it plans to engage with the attackers.

The situation echoes previous incidents involving major companies targeted through external vendors, rather than direct attacks on internal infrastructure. In this case, reports suggest the entry point may have been linked to analytics tools used to monitor cloud spending, rather than core development systems.

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Swedish pop sensation Zara Larsson has sparked a renewed conversation about music ethics after revealing that she proactively blocks “abusers” on streaming platforms. During an appearance on Cosmopolitan’s “Cheap Shots” segment, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter identified Chris Brown as an artist whose work she refuses to feature on her personal Spotify playlists due to his history of domestic violence and legal controversies.

When prompted to name one artist who would never be found in her music rotation, Larsson did not hesitate. “There’s so many artists I’ve blocked on Spotify, and all of them are, like, abusers,” she told the outlet. “You certainly wouldn’t find, like, a Chris Brown song.” The “Lush Life” singer, known for her unfiltered honesty and feminist advocacy, clarified that while she recognizes Brown’s technical skill, his personal conduct remains an insurmountable barrier. “I do like his music, to be honest. I think he’s a really talented person… but he’s not a nice person,” she added.

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Sony Music has requested the removal of more than 135,000 AI-generated songs from streaming platforms, alleging they impersonate its artists. These "deepfakes," created using generative AI, targeted major acts including Beyoncé, Queen, and Harry Styles. Sony stated that these counterfeits cause "direct commercial harm" and frequently target musicians during new album promotions.

"In the worst cases, the deepfakes potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist," said Dennis Kooker, president of Sony's global digital business.

The company says the number of songs generated in this fashion is only increasing as artificial intelligence technology becomes cheaper and easier to access.

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Taylor Swift’s latest single, Opalite, appeared poised for another chart-topping run, yet her ascent stalled as Bad Bunny dominated the rankings - with the Puerto Rican icon blocking her path to the summit.

The track climbed to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, however four songs by the Puerto Rican superstar occupied key positions above it, fueled by renewed attention following his widely watched Super Bowl performance.

Industry analysts point to the halftime exposure as a catalyst, since such appearances often translate into surges in streams and downloads, thereby lifting both new releases and older catalog entries simultaneously.

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Live Nation and the Justice Department reached a settlement on Monday, bringing an end to a high-profile antitrust trial that could have resulted in the company's breakup. The agreement follows a week of testimony and a face-to-face negotiation between Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and Omeed Assefi, the acting assistant attorney general. As a result of the deal, the parent company of Ticketmaster will remain intact, resolving one of the largest antitrust cases in decades.

In court Monday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said he received an email Sunday night notifying the court that an agreement had been reached between the Justice Department and Live Nation, but that he had not seen a term sheet until that morning.

On a background call with reporters Monday, a senior justice official said the deal will drive down prices by giving both artists and consumers more choice.

As part of the agreement, Ticketmaster will provide a standalone ticketing system that will allow third-party companies like SeatGeek and StubHub to offer primary tickets through the platform. The senior justice official described it as "open sourcing" their ticketing model.

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Global music superstar Bad Bunny is taking his record breaking catalog to Tokyo as part of Spotify’s exclusive Billions Club Live series, with a special one night only concert scheduled for March 7. The highly anticipated performance marks his first ever show in Asia and Japan, making it a historic moment for both the artist and his international fan base.